SEO Scam: Bogus Anti-Virus Software

It comes as no surprise to me that cybercriminals have found a SEO technique that allows them to rake in up to $10,800 a day. Matthew Harwood, who cites a report by Finjan, a security company, explains that cybercriminals are compromising legitimate Web sites by injecting SEO-targeted pages with typos. These misspelled popular words include "fone," "Gogle," "liscense" and "Obbama."

Users who click on an infected search result are directed to a malicious page that tells them their computers are infected with malware, so they need fake anti-virus software -- a way for scammers to get the scammed consumer's credit card number. The report notes that traffic volume to the sites has increased significantly, successfully luring masses of potential buyers to the fake software offering.